Sunday Columns

How successful have Senators from NH been (4.00 / 3)

in picking their successors? Since 1960:

1. Styles Bridges died in office.
2. Maurice Murphy was defeated in a primary.
3. Tom McIntyre was defeated.
4. Norris Cotton retired in 1974. Did he get involved in the primary?
5. John Durkin was defeated.
6. Gordon Humphrey retired in 1990. Did he get involved in the primary?
7. Warren Rudman retired. Did he get involved in the primary?
8. Bob Smith was defeated in a primary.
9. John E. Sununu was defeated in a primary.

3 retirements, any examples of picking or grooming successors? Not that I recall.

---

by: elwood @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 06:32:24 AM CDT

Arg. Bad pasting - (4.00 / 2)

John E. Sununu was not defeated in a primary.

---

by: elwood @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 06:47:15 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but. . . (0.00 / 0)

Re: Rudman, didn't he support Judd Gregg in 1992?  I seem to recall that.  And, while I wasn't living in NH then, I believe Humphrey was a strong supporter of Bob Smith in 1990.  Neither of these primaries were particularly close.

Can't speak to Cotton, but didn't Louie Wyman get the '74 nomination unopposed (while Durkin and Dartmouth's own Larry Radway were duking it out on the other side of the aisle?)

---

by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 07:36:29 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think you're correct on all points - (4.00 / 1)

But, I don't recall whether there were really any challengers.

In 1974 there were a lot of potential candidates: NH-01 Wyman, NH-02 Cleveland, Governor Thomson. It may simply have been a matter of Thomson and Cleveland not being interested. I don't believe Cotton interceded in any way.

As Governor Gregg was the most obvious nominee in '92. Did Rudman get involved in a primary contest? He certainly strongly supported Gregg over Rauh in the general.

Humphrey supporting Smith - who was NH-01 Congressman at the time - would be the clearest example of interceding.

(It's a shame we never had Larry Radway in the Senate.)

---

by: elwood @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 08:34:29 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I got a kick out of GOP chairman Sununu's final quote in the Landrigan piece.. (4.00 / 2)

They are relishing the fact they've mismanaged the state to the point that everybody will have to accept the fact that there might be an income tax.

By my quick count, there are 4 untruths in this single short sentence: Democrats are not 'relishing" anything; we haven't "mismanaged the state"; not "everyone will accept the fact"  and there is no chance as a result that there "might be an income tax".

I know Sununu is doing this to boost flagging  GOP morale, but he sounds more and more like H L Mencken's  description of a demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

 

---

by: Michael Marsh @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 06:35:06 AM CDT

Tax Reform Is Not A Dirty Term... (4.00 / 1)

...and we do need tax reform.  For the lower income among us, the alternatives include higher property taxes on wherever we live or rent, and fewer programs and budget cuts on those things that help low incomed.  For others, the alternatives include silly fee and tax adjustments geared to attach every dollar available, regardless of ability to pay -- i.e. the "campers' tax" and upping car registration an additional $30, which none of us wanted to do.

Worse, we'll see even more cuts and reductions in our statewide educational programs next year -- that hurts the very fabric of the future of New Hampshire's economy and social life.  The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  What a vision.

Many people already recognize that we need tax reform, and an income tax based on ability to pay, dedicated solely to education, is one of those approaches.  Let's not close the door on that discussion just for perceived political benefit.  

---

by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 07:19:03 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I am not disagreeing with your points (0.00 / 0)

Of course we need tax reform. Our state revenue system is beyond ridiculous, and is designed to benefit the wealthiest among us while keeping down the size of government. It is frustrating that after two terms of Democratic control, this fundamentally hasn't changed.

But do you relish the fact that you mismanaged the state so that everyone will accept the fact that we need an income tax? Probably not so much.

I wonder how much time Sununu puts into making up these asinine statements based on obviously wrong premises. Does he think they are effective?

---

by: Michael Marsh @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 08:24:13 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Not Mismanging The State... (0.00 / 0)

...I would take strong exception with Sununu or anyone else that the Democrats or Governor John Lynch have "mismanaged the state."  They/he/we have done an incredible job with dwindling resources and increasing dilemmas and problems.  

The balancing act that the new budget creates is remarkable in that by piece-meal and patch-work, most obligations of our state government will still be met.  Not well, and not completely, and many more people will suffer and lose opportunities -- especially in our educational systems -- but compared with other states and elsewhere in this country, New Hampshire is being well-managed.  

We cannot let the Sununus of the world make their points without response.  

---

by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 09:05:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

If one wanted to set up a mechanism that would insure the maintenance (0.00 / 0)

of a stratified society without relying on all the discredited segregationist criteria (race, gender, religion, ethnic affiliation), then making the delivery of every public service dependent on the point of use transfer of money would not only do it, but look entirely objective and democratic to boot.  After all, everyone has access to and can accumulate money, right?  Those who don't have only themselves to blame for either not working hard enough, letting themselves be cheated by crooks, trusting the wrong people and letting themselves be talked into buying junk, including junk insurance.

Depriving the people to be excluded of money has turned out to be such a simple strategy that it was hardly noticed, until the top stratum got so  greedy that the crooks could no longer be ignored.

Of course, it may have happened entirely by accident.  But, there's no question that whoever believed the privatizers promises of greater efficiency and lower cost were mislead.

---

by: hannah @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 09:35:49 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Missing the big story here. (4.00 / 2)

John H. Sununu just endorsed a state income tax as necessary.

---

by: elwood @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 08:37:08 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'd have liked to be a fly on the wall when lobbyist Jim Demers met.. (4.00 / 1)

... with his employers at Millenium after gambling went down.

In December they figured they had pro-gambling 172 votes in the House with 75 or so Reps unaccounted for. But when the bills came up for a vote, they lost 295 to 72. So all of the Millenium's spending on high-priced lobbying lost them 100 votes!

I'll bet the conversation started something like, "So, Jim, remind us again what we are paying you to do..."

---

by: Michael Marsh @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 08:36:43 AM CDT

Are you still talking about gambling? n/t (0.00 / 0)

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

---

by: Jack Mitchell @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 10:30:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Anybody who follows New Hampshire state government is. (0.00 / 0)

The budget is precariously balanced, the Governor appointed a commission to study gambling. The next session is likely to see a stark choice between a broadbased tax and casino gambling.

---

by: elwood @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 11:24:41 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I notice that there is no... (0.00 / 0)

Governor's Broad-Based Tax Study Commission, as a counter-part or alternative to his Gaming Study Commission.

That means we either know all we need to know about a broad-based tax, or it ain't worth spending time learning about it.  

---

by: Michael Marsh @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 12:09:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It doesn't mean much (0.00 / 0)

Other than, there is no Millenium Gaming busy lobbying in favor of a broad-based tax.

---

by: elwood @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 12:14:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Question for Blue Hampshire people .... (0.00 / 0)

... maybe this belongs in an Open Thread, but I haven't seen one in awhile and wanted to ask this before I forgot it.

A few years after I relocated to New Hampshire in 1987, I recall seeing the New Hampshire Legislators Guide (unsure of its title?) and got a sense of who was who back then. Two names that stuck out:

(a)  Canterbury representative Frank Tupper (who appears to be still serving) who listed under the category of "Other Interests" several items and concluded with ......."raising hell".

(b)  But the prize went to a Donald Roulston(sp?) who listed in the "Other Interests" category, "Fast women, cheap whiskey and political obscurity". And this guy was a Republican!

Perhaps he succeeded at least in political obscurity, since I can't locate him anywhere. Does anyone have access to records from the late 80's-early 90's that lists this fellow, or who knows more about him?


 "We should pay attention to that man behind the curtain."

---

by: Ed Tracey @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 10:30:29 AM CDT

Don't know, but (4.00 / 1)

I can say that Frank Tupper is indeed still serving.  He is on my slate of local reps.

birch, finch, beech

---

by: Dean Barker @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 17:45:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Frank Tupper... (4.00 / 1)

...is GREAT!  We love 'em.

---

by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 21:27:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Note to Landrigan on reading press releases: (4.00 / 5)

The poll found 172 were pro-gambling or could be pro-gambling, versus 150 who said they anti-gambling or leaning that way.

"Could be pro-gambling" is a hole you can drive a truck through. I "could be pro-gambling" if given convincing evidence that casinos would bring in $1 billion a year and not cause any social problems.

If 30 reps said they were definitely pro-gambling and 142 said "maybe, if" that means one thing. If 142 said they were pro-gambling and the other thirty said "maybe", that is an entirely different matter.

If the lobbyists won't tell you which, maybe it isn't news.

---

by: elwood @ Sun Jul 26, 2009 at 11:41:09 AM CDT